Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Water Margin

Chapter 277 Hostage Exchange, Helbo's Self-Destruction

Picking up where we left off, the brothers Fred and George took out a grenade called "Demon Slayer".

Harry, unfamiliar with the object, was puzzled. He took it, weighed it in his palm, and asked, "What's the use of this iron pellet? Tell me, brothers."

When Fred saw Harry tossing it around like that, he was terrified and quickly reached out to carefully catch the grenade back. Still shaken, he said, "Be careful, Harry. If this thing explodes, all three of us will die here today."

George leaned out and looked around for a moment, then pulled out his wand, pointed at a wooden stake in the open space, and shouted, "Protect yourself!"

In an instant, a magical barrier completely enveloped the wooden stake.

George, however, continued chanting incantations, setting up three to five layers of protective spells in one go, causing the wooden stake to be surrounded by dazzling light and shadow, as if it were covered by a golden bell.

Seeing this, Fred held the grenade in his palm, pointed his wand at the wooden stake, and said, "Grenade, fly!"

The grenade suddenly shot through the air, soaring straight into the sky, its speed even greater than a flying broom. Though far inferior to a fire arrow, it was comparable to a comet. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared into the clouds, vanishing without a trace.

Fred and George did not hesitate. They grabbed Harry's arms from the left and right, and pulled him back dozens of feet.

As soon as he stood still, he quickly waved his wand, creating several magical barriers in front of him.

Upon seeing this, Harry exclaimed in surprise, "These iron pellets are incredibly powerful?"

Fred craned his neck, staring straight at the sky, and said without turning his head, "Actually, the blast radius is only a dozen meters, but the splash radius is much larger! Here it comes!"

Before he could finish speaking, Harry suddenly heard a whistling sound in mid-air, like a hawk tearing through the wind, or a sharp blade slicing through the air.

Looking up, one could see the grenade plummeting down from the clouds, piercing through the layers of barriers that had been laid out earlier, as if they were made of paper. The grenade struck the wooden stake and exploded with a loud bang.

Flames shot skyward, and black smoke billowed from the ground. From the crack in the iron shell, hundreds of steel balls flew out, hissing and shooting wildly, crackling and splitting the surrounding trees. The demonic runes on the black pearl suddenly lit up, exploding in succession, like firecrackers on New Year's Eve, an unbearable noise to the ears.

The steel balls shot forward like locusts, crashing into the barrier in front of the three men like raindrops pattering on banana leaves.

Each time one hits, a burst of fire erupts, shaking the barrier and making it seem as if it's about to crack.

Seeing the light barrier flickering and about to collapse, Harry quickly cast an armor charm to protect it, thus stopping the explosion.

As the smoke cleared and the dust settled, the three looked closely and saw that where the wooden stakes had stood, a large, charred pit, several dozen feet in diameter and knee-deep, had been created, and the surrounding vegetation was reduced to dust.

Fred dusted himself off, turned his head, raised an eyebrow at Harry, and grinned, "How was it? Pretty powerful, huh?"

"We engraved special anti-defense magic runes on the grenade casing, and also implanted eight hundred steel balls, each three millimeters in diameter, inside the grenade, each engraved with an explosive spell."

George then added, "Although these steel shot explosions are much less powerful than the Explosive Charm, and they have quite a few flaws, I don't think it's a big problem."

"After all, we're not the ones who'll be bombed."

Fred chuckled and said, "That's right, as long as it doesn't explode during launch."

Harry was overjoyed upon hearing this and clapped his hands in praise, saying, "My two brothers are truly master craftsmen, surpassing even Lu Ban and Mozi! With such a divine cannon in hand, how can we not destroy those two birdmen, Voldemort and Grindelwald?"

"I wonder how many Galleons this single grenade will cost?"

As the saying goes, "When the cannon roars, gold flows like water." In the past, the most expensive weapon on Liangshan Marsh was the thunderous Ling Zhen cannon, which filled its barrel with countless amounts of gold and silver.

Even so, Ling Zhen still complained all day long that "money is not enough to cover expenses," which shows that such firearms were a real money pit.

Harry thought to himself: If this single bullet costs one or two thousand gallons, I'll have to go back to my old ways. But first, I need to find...

However, one must carefully consider the implications before targeting a wealthy family.

Meanwhile, Fred and George exchanged glances after hearing Harry's question. George then held up one finger.

Seeing this, Harry glared and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Damn it! You really want a thousand Galleons?"

Hearing this, George breathed a sigh of relief and laughed, "Harry, you added an extra zero."

"We don't need launchers, detonators, or other troublesome things. We just need the incantation, so it's cheaper to make than the grenades used by Muggles."

Hearing this, Harry felt immediately reassured. He raised his hand and patted George's shoulder heavily. "In that case, brother, you should make a hundred or two to stockpile, just in case!"

"These past two days I've been working hard to make two for myself; they'll be of great use to me."

Upon hearing this, Fred and George were overjoyed. They hurriedly agreed several times, jumped up, and rushed off to make preparations.

Let's stop talking nonsense.

On the day agreed upon with Grindelwald, after lunch, Harry, Dumbledore, Hermione, and Helbo set off for Norbert to look towards the Polish border.

Hermione looked worried the whole way, and kept nagging Harry about the money he, Fred, and George had allocated.

"Harry, you really should check how much money you have left in your vault!"

"You've spent a full ten thousand Galleons! Have you even considered how much shampoo your family would have to sell to earn that much?"

"If this continues, your balance of income and expenditure will be disrupted."

Hermione had been nagging him for days, and Harry was finally getting some peace and quiet. But considering that she was his sworn sister and managed the family's finances, he couldn't bring himself to lash out, so he could only repeatedly beg for forgiveness.

"Good sister, please forgive us this time, but now is not the time to say such things. Even if you have a thousand words to say, we should wait until we find a safe place to deal with them."

Hermione had known him for almost five years and had never heard him call her "sister" before. Hearing it today made her feel incredibly happy, but she pretended to be reluctant and said, "Alright, let's talk about it after we get back from Warsaw."

Harry ignored him, climbed up to the dragon's neck, and instructed Helbo, "Make sure you keep those two grenades safe, brother. When you get away, just throw them at Grindelwald's head."

Helbo reached into his robe and pressed the two cloth bags inside, calmly saying, "Rest assured, Mr. Potter, I will deliver the fatal blow to Grindelwald."

Harry, sensing the desperate urge in his words, added, "If things don't go as planned, never be reckless; protect yourself."

Life is of paramount importance.

"With your abilities, brother, you have a bright future ahead of you. How can you squander it so easily?"

Helbo shook his head, saying, "The person who lets you know the truth is the one whose life is truly precious."

"As for me—I believe you have no shortage of powerful wizards around you."

Harry ignored his self-deprecating words and just laughed, "If that's what you're saying, brother, then wouldn't everyone in the world be considered worthless? That would be a kind of equality for all beings."

The two chatted idly along the way, and before they knew it, they had reached Polish territory. Harry then put Norbert into the locket.

Knowing that the detected magic had been discovered, the group did not use Apparition. Harry directly took four suits of armor and attached them to their legs.

The group moved with brisk pace, traversing forests and fields. They ran and rested intermittently until they reached Navazinki Park in Warsaw at the turn of the day.

Harry and the other younger ones were still holding on, but Dumbledore was already drenched in sweat and panting heavily. He had to take several potions before he could catch his breath.

"Phew—Harry, if you ever need to sneak around again, go ask Snape for help."

After saying that, he staggered to a bench in the garden, slumped down, and exhaled a long breath.

"I feel like I'm about to die from running today."

Harry smiled reassuringly and said, "As the saying goes, 'A hundred steps after a meal will help you live to ninety-nine.' We just had lunch before setting off, and Professor, your journey will help you digest and loosen your muscles."

Dumbledore silently turned to look at him. "I am one hundred and fourteen years old."

Hermione, who was listening nearby, felt her eyelids twitching and quickly stepped forward to grab Harry's hand and pull him aside. "Come on, Harry, help me drive away the Muggles in the park so we don't accidentally hurt them."

The two of them went together and led away all the scattered idlers in the garden.

In the midst of their busy work, Hermione suddenly asked, "Harry, have you thought about what would happen if we failed to kill Grindelwald?"

Harry, his hands still busy, replied, "Our primary purpose in coming here is to save Hagrid's life."

"If Grindelwald happens to come along, then get rid of him; if the timing isn't right, then so be it. Why add to the trouble?"

Hermione nodded, then asked, "What about Helbo?"

Harry, always observant, sensed the hidden meaning in her words and stopped what he was doing, saying, "Does Big Sister suspect that Halberd has betrayed us?"

'

"Yes. I'm very worried."

Hermione took a deep breath and said, "Perhaps I'm being too petty, but I still don't trust Halberd, even though he teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts very well."

"What if he's actually been controlled by Voldemort like Moody? What if he's persuaded by Grindelwald to form some kind of cooperation?"

"I even suspect he has some other motive and has just been deceiving everyone."

Hermione's eyebrows furrowed, her face filled with worry.

Harry, however, didn't seem to care and laughed, "Don't worry, elder sister. I have my own plans for this."

"If that Herbo is honest, I will do everything in my power to save him from danger; if he is disloyal, I have prepared a way to deal with him."

Readers, please hear this: it turns out that Fred and George secretly added a mechanism to the anti-magic grenade they were hastily crafting. The grenade contained a hidden, interconnected spell. Within a thousand paces, Harry only needed to recite a single spell to cause the grenade to explode out of thin air.

Hermione's brow relaxed slightly after hearing this explanation. The two immediately cleared away all the clutter from the garden and returned to the bench to wait.

Dumbledore took a lampshade from his pocket and sucked up all the streetlights, leaving only one lone lamp shining a few dozen steps away.

After waiting for about fifteen minutes, they suddenly heard footsteps in the distance. Sure enough, they saw two figures slowly approaching, stopping the lone lamp.

under.

It was Grindelwald and Rozier.

The two groups of men met face to face. Grindelwald stared at Dumbledore for a moment before smiling and saying, "Long time no see, Al."

"I didn't expect you to come too."

Rozier raised his voice, saying, "Master, Potter doesn't seem to be here to exchange hostages. Let's see who he brought with him."

Upon hearing this, Grindelwald glanced at Hermione beside Harry, his smile widening.

"Ah, Hermione, I didn't expect my star pupil to be here too."

"How's your relationship with Harry going? Don't tell me it's still not progressing at all."

Hermione's face flushed red. Luckily, it was dark and she couldn't see clearly, so she quickly interrupted, "Stop talking nonsense, where is Hagrid?"

"We brought Helbo with us."

Grindelwald, unperturbed, reached into his robes and pulled a palm-sized figure from his pocket. This person had a thick beard...

With a bald head, broad face, and closed eyes, he looked exactly like Hagrid.

"His body is too big. If we don't shrink it, Voldemort will probably find us as soon as we arrive in Poland."

The two sides stood still. Harry pressed his wand against Helbo's lower back, stepped forward, and shouted, "Enough talk! And remember why we've met today!"

Grindelwald nodded slightly. "Of course, it's best if we resolve this issue as soon as possible."

Then he stretched out the hand that was supporting Hagrid to the side, and Rozier understood, took Hagrid and strode forward.

When she and Harry stood facing each other, Harry pushed Helbo forward, and Rozier threw Hagrid through the air.

Harry grabbed Hagrid and examined the bearded figure closely in the moonlight. It was indeed him, and a huge weight was lifted from his heart.

Taking advantage of the moment, Rozier pressed his wand against the back of Helbo's head and retreated step by step.

Upon returning to Grindelwald's side, Grindelwald didn't even glance at Helbo, but simply said to Harry, "The deal is done."

After saying that, he turned and left.

Hermione watched as Grindelwald and his group went far away, while Helbo remained silent. Anxious, she thought, "Harry? Should we make our move now?"

"Any later and they'd be completely gone."

Harry stared intently at Halberd's figure, and as he watched his group disappear into the darkness, he was about to unleash a fierce wand from his sleeve.

Just then, Grindelwald suddenly stopped, turned his head and whispered a few words to Halpert, looked him over, and then turned back and said loudly, "Come on, Mr. Potter!"

"It seems you two have a deep bond. Mr. Helbo has a few more words he'd like to say to you."

"But only you can come."

Upon hearing this, Hermione quickly grabbed Harry's hand, "Don't go! I feel something's wrong!"

Harry didn't turn around, only patted her lightly on the shoulder, and strode forward. When he was about twenty or thirty paces away from Halberd, he suddenly heard Halberd say loudly, "Enough."

"This distance is fine."

Harry stopped and looked at him, saying, "Go ahead and speak, I'm listening."

"Do you remember what we said on the way here, Mr. Potter?"

"What follows is the most precious moment of my life."

Harry seemed to realize something, and suddenly startled, he was about to speak when Helbo suddenly grabbed Grindelwald by the neck and hissed, "God is a liar and a lackey! Don't believe him!"

Before the words were finished, the inky sky suddenly turned into a purple haze, and a thunderous roar exploded, the sound waves sweeping across Warsaw like a tidal wave, silencing all other sounds in the world.

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